Letter: Recovery Act, auto bailout benefited this area

Janet Hecht’s letter of Sept. 30 suggests the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the “stimulus”) was not used for repair of schools, roads and bridges. I beg to differ.

Publicly available databases show three grants totaling $1,891,412 were made to the Vassar Public Schools.

On roads just in her area, upgrades to M-15 from Millington to Vassar, resurfacing of M-46 from M-15 to Towerline Road as well as resurfacing work on M-81 east of Indiantown Road were all completed with help from ARRA.

The implication in this and other letters is that everything would have been fine if Sen. McCain had become president in 2009, since President Obama, in her view, has achieved so little. Consider the following historical record and likely resulting outcome.

Our area has long depended on the auto and supplier industries for good-paying jobs. But by late 2008, after sky-rocketing summer gas prices and an increasing scarcity of credit, U.S. auto sales were in drastic decline. President Bush took steps toward stabilizing the industry by advancing $13.4 billion in December 2008.

Sen. McCain opposed this, and based on his statements at the time it is very doubtful whether a President McCain would have advanced any further help to the industry in 2009.

Because of the unwillingness of lenders to lend, there was no possibility of a normal debtor-in-possession Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy. Instead, there would have been a rapid transition to Chapter 7 (liquidation).

If not for President Obama’s auto task force and the “managed” Chapter 11 they oversaw, the U.S.-based auto industry would have disappeared. Millions in the Midwest would have been added to the unemployment rolls, giving rise to a catastrophe reminiscent of the 1930s Depression.

As it is, we are still facing very difficult times with a weak economic recovery from the credit crisis and a huge national debt. The next president, whoever he may be, will not have an easy time of it. Voters need to think long and hard before deciding who to vote for in 2012.